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Female waist-to-hip ratio preference among rural men in Bakossiland, Cameroon

A study by Dixson et al.(1) reported that when shown line drawings of women from the back, varying in waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs) from 0.5 to 1.0, rural men in Bakossiland, Cameroon, most often preferred a WHR of 0.8.

The following image shows the number of the central African men most strongly preferring a given WHR when asked to pick the most sexually appealing form and the form most attractive in a woman that is a potential long-term partner.

The number of central African men (Bakossiland, Cameroon) most strongly preferring a given WHR when asked to pick the most sexually appealing form and the form most attractive in a woman that is a potential long-term partner.

Legend: Dashed line represents expected number of men preferring a given WHR if the choices were made randomly.  ** p < 0.005 (chi-squared test).

There does not appear to be a strong preference for hourglass figures among rural men in Bakossiland, Cameroon.

References

  1. Dixson, B. J., Dixson, A. F., Morgan, B., and Anderson, M. J., Human Physique and Sexual Attractiveness: Sexual Preferences of Men and Women in Bakossiland, Cameroon, Arch Sex Behav Nov. 30 Epub (2006).
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Comments

It looks like they only varied the size of the waist, making the curve only appear smooth in the .8 drawing. My theory is that beyond just a preference for a certain range of WHR, men prefer curves that appear to flow naturally. Also, for what it is worth, in my personal experience west african women tend to have "gluteal areas" that project backwards in comparison to sidways projection more than women of other ethnicities. This could render 2-dimensional rear view drawings inaccurate for predicting actual WHR preference.

Dan: Manipulating WHR by altering the waist but not the hips is quite common in such studies. Similar studies using line drawings as above (for a Chinese male sample) and manipulated photos of a woman (for a European male sample) have shown men most often preferring a WHR of 0.6 when WHR was varied as above; these studies have been addressed in adjacent entries. You are correct that sub-Saharan African women have a more protrusive backside, and it has been shown that sub-Saharan African men prefer lower side-view WHRs -- i.e., a more protrusive backside for a given waist size -- than European men; I have addressed this elsewhere. However, this study is not about side-view WHR or even actual WHR, but about two-dimensional WHR in rear view (the results would extrapolate to two-dimensional WHR in front view).

What conclusion do we draw besides the obvious? That the rural African men aren't much exposed to and influemnced by western media and their intrinsical preference is a higher WHR than that of men from other cultures? Idon't know what to make of this.

Susie: You got it but then curiously say you don't know what to make of it.

I don't understand the point either Eric.

> I don't understand the point either Eric.

Don't worry, my dears...
Neither did Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, you're in good company.
They didn't teach her The Metrical System cause is a cultural construct devised by "Da Vhicked Vhitey" (c)

> [...] men prefer curves that appear to flow naturally.

But that was a good point, nonetheless.
That progression is faulty, topologically speaking.

Danielle: If you don't understand the point, don't worry about it.

Eric, I am sorry I don't see the purpose of posting the physical preferences of a small group of african men. I don't see how this relates to beauty pageants, high fashion models or "feminine" beauty. You said you were targeting a "western audience" with this website. I hope you weren't trying to use this as a general example of the physical preference of sub-saharan africans.

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